Saturday, 25 June 2016

We gathered one evening in the home of friends to seek God. As we soaked in His presence one dear friend said that I was as the fragrance of vanilla to Jesus and she opened a vial of vanilla oil and placed it near my nose to inhale. My initial reaction was vanilla? - somehow in my spice rankings vanilla wasn't quite up there. As a child you chose lime or strawberry milkshake but never vanilla - it was colourlessly white and not particularly significant. As I inhaled in faith I thought good Lord this smells more like an intense detergent. In honour of my friend I thought well I trust Jesus finds my fragrance appealing. I later learned that essential oils have an overpowering smell on close inhalation.

The next day whilst working in theatre I was pondering the vanilla fragrance word. My earliest recollection of vanilla was the small bottle of vanilla essence my mother used in cooking. I had also witnessed the now mandatory scraping of vanilla beans on every cooking show. Phrases like Vanilla Ice and Vanilla Sky came to mind however I had no connection with either of them. I turned to Dr Google and facts like it is the second most expensive spice after saffron and that it originated in Mexico were interesting but not entirely convincing. Then another reference popped up.

￼ I didn't quite expect this however this was more descriptive of my understanding of vanilla. The very mention of my name " I would ask mark to the drag show, but he is so vanilla" was uncanny. As a joke and as part of my external processing I forwarded this link to my friend who likened me to vanilla and her husband who in turn soon replied with a more positive link about vanilla below.

Okay I will choose to run with the more milky warm version! Two days later at work where as anaesthetists we receive a complimentary tub of unmarked yoghurt, I chose a yellowish tub expecting banana, pineapple or some other fruit. Back in theatre as I took my first spoonful I thought WoW this is an unusual and exotic taste. It was unfamiliarly familiar and it lingered unlike the usual raspberry rush ( more like banana or strawberry but raspberry rhymes more). After the second spoonful and more of this intriguing and mysterious taste I had to know what this flavour was and scratched in the rubbish bin for the foil lid - Vanilla flavoured it was! What a surprise and what a way for me to taste and see that what He made is indeed Good, very Good and so very God. 😍
He knows our language!